


Bruises on Broken Skin

by JeromeClarke107



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationship, Angst, Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jeff Winger needs a hug, M/M, Not graphic but talked about extensively, Past Child Abuse, Pre-Canon, Violence, domestic abuse, poor jeff, self hate, tw rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:49:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25139521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeromeClarke107/pseuds/JeromeClarke107
Summary: Alan Connor is abusive and violent and horrible, and Jeff Winger endures.
Relationships: Jeff Winger and Annie Edison, Jeff Winger/Alan Connor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	Bruises on Broken Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place before the events of the show while Jeff is still with his law firm.  
> Please heed the trigger warnings in the tags; there is very little graphic content, but there are mentions and references to rape, domestic abuse, and child abuse. Please be safe!
> 
> Written for Angst and Fluff Prompt List 1 by HellsDemonicTrinity on Tumblr  
> Prompt: How could you ask me that?

Jeff Winger should be happy.

He repeats this mantra to himself over and over in his head as he watches Alan dress, as he tries to convince himself that the bruises on his skin are normal. He wraps himself in the covers on his bed; it’s easier to pretend they aren’t there when he can’t see them.

His friends never ask about the bruises on his neck in the shape of Alan’s hands, are perfectly content to pretend they aren’t there as they go over cases and tell him of their weekend conquests. Sometimes he wishes they would ask, even though he doesn’t know what he’d say to them if they did.

He was supposed to be strong, had promised himself that he’d never be thrown around again after his father left. He spends hours in the gym, runs three miles every morning, and he’d once believed that he’d never look in the mirror and see that broken kid again.

No one had ever asked about the bruises then, either.

“You were so sexy tonight, Winger. Even when you cried like a bitch, you were hot.”

His body aches and he can’t bring himself to look at Alan. Suddenly a hand is grabbing his chin and pulling his head up, forcing him to meet his lover’s eyes.

“Look at me, slut.”

Jeff feels the tears pooling in his eyes and he forces them back. He won’t give Alan the satisfaction, not right now.

“You belong to me, you know that? I fuck you so good.”

Jeff’s heart is beating fast in his chest and he nods. He does belong to Alan, and he hasn’t felt like a real person since Alan claimed him as his own. He berates himself for his weakness, for his inability to be a person again.

“God, you love it when I fuck you, don’t you?”

He feels anger surge through him as he remembers how he’d stood up for his mom when his dad punched her in the stomach, how he’d taken the beating for her and had felt good about it afterwards. He’d felt like a hero that night, had been proud of the bruises that covered his body. It was the only time he stood up to his dad, but he still finds bravery from somewhere deep inside him when he thinks about it.

“How could you ask me that?”

Rage lives in Alan’s eyes, and for once, Jeff isn’t sorry that he ignited it.

“What?” His voice is threatening. Jeff recalls how his mom had held him the night he’d taken the beating for her. It was one of the only fond memories he has of his childhood, of being loved by someone.

“I begged you to stop and you didn’t.”

Alan wraps a hand around his neck, and if he were to die now, it might just be worth it to see the brief look of terror that flashes in Alan’s eyes before he covers it up with rage again.

“What, are you gonna act like I raped you, Winger? You wanted it, like you always want my dick.”

Jeff tries to shake Alan’s hand from his throat, but fails. He meets his partner’s eyes and wraps his hand around Alan’s wrist, squeezes with all the strength he has.

“I didn’t. And I don’t.”

His voice is steady and Alan’s grip loosens slightly.

“What the fuck do you mean?”

“I didn’t want it. I almost never do.”

Alan’s hand leaves his throat completely and he looks at Jeff with the strangest combination of anger and fear that Jeff’s ever seen. It urges him on; he needs to get this out before he loses his nerve. The courage he found to fight for his mom and for his clients swells up inside him, and he’s never been this determined in his life.

For once, Jeff Winger finds the strength to fight for himself.

“You did rape me.”

He says it in a whisper, and his stomach churns as he finally admits the truth to himself as well as to his tormentor. Alan has always been abusive and always will be; any time he pretends to care about Jeff in the slightest is nothing more than a facade to keep him from leaving.

“You’re fucking delusional. Keep your lies to yourself or you’ll regret it.”

Alan leaves with a slam of the door and Jeff finally lets his tears fall. He’s proud and scared and lonely all at the same time. He’s furious and afraid and empowered somehow.  
The fear in Alan’s eyes had been a beautiful sight, not at all like the fear he sees in the mirror after a night spent under his bruising hands.

. . .  
Jeff reports Alan to the police anonymously.

A week later, Jeff’s boss fires him when a fellow employee tips him off about Jeff’s fake law degree.

He begrudgingly starts attending Greendale Community College and forms a fake Spanish study group, quickly finding that he likes them more than he ever expected to.  
The day after their first meeting, Annie finds him in their study room before the others arrive and brings her hand up to his neck tentatively, stroking her fingertips over it with the gentlest touch Jeff’s ever felt.

“Oh my god, Jeff. Who did this to you?”

Her voice is soft and her eyes are sad, and for a moment he isn’t sure what she’s talking about.

Then he remembers the fading bruises left by Alan’s hands on his throat, barely visible when he’d checked them in the mirror that morning.

He finds himself at a loss for words, but she doesn’t wait long before she’s standing up as tall as she can to wrap her arms around his shoulders and pulling his body tightly against hers.

He returns her hug after a few minutes, feels the tears that start falling down his face involuntarily. Before he can reel it in, he’s sobbing into her shoulder and she’s rubbing her hand up and down his back, shushing him as she squeezes him tighter.

“It’s ok, Jeff. It’s gonna be ok.”

For the first time since he met Alan Connor, he’s able to believe that she might be right.

He may eventually be ok.


End file.
